In a frail attempt to be ahead of the
inflation the Hungarian Post Office started issuing the so-called letter
surcharges on 14th January 1946, at the same time when the raised postage of
Period # 6 took effect. The letter surcharges showed the class of postage
for which they were valid. Letter surcharge for parcel post Cs. 10 - 1 was
issued only on 22nd January.

Cs. 5 - 1 had a total print run of 60,.000.
Cs. 10 - 1 had a total print run of 48,000.

Note that the Cs. 5-1 and Cs. 10-1 stamps
(overprinted on Scott 613 and 615) were issued on 14th January, along with six
other values. These two stamps were withdrawn on 22nd January, because the
St. Stephen crown was an offensive symbol to the communists. On 28th
January the Cs. 5-1 and Cs. 10-1 overprints reappeared on the 70f value of the
famous Woman set (Scott 629).

In the 3rd series there is only text on the stamps, except for declaration of
weight class (5 or 10) on the parcel post stamps.

The below table gives an overview of the
letter surcharges, their values and issuing dates.

Serial Number

1

2

3

Period
No.
(cf. table on page 1)

6
(01.14.1946)

7
(02.01.1946)

14
(05.01.1946)

Any = Nyomtatvány
=
Printed Matters (20 gr)

150 P

500 P

400,000 P

Hlp. = Helyi levelezölap
=
Post card (local rate)

300 P

1,500 P

800,000 P

Hl. = Helyi level
=
Letters (local rate)

400 P

2,000 P

1,200,000
P

Tlp. = Távolsági levelezölaplevel
=
Post cards (domestic rate)

400 P

2,000 P

1,200,000
P

Tl. = Távolsági level
=
Letters (domestic rate)

600 P

3,000 P

2,000 000
P

Ajl. = Ajánlás =
Registered mail

1,200 P

6,000 P

4,000,000
P

Cs - 5 = Csomag 5 kg
=
parcels (5 kg)

3,000 P

10,000
P

6,000,000
P

Cs - 10 = Csomag 10 kg
=
parcels (10 kg)

6,000 P

15,000 P

8,000,000
P

The scan shows a piece of an address
card for a parcel up to 5 kg, sent on 19th January 1946, affixed with a
letter surcharge Cs. 5 - 1 from the first series, 3,000 Pengö. The
other stamp is a revenue for the fee (for the card as such) of 10 Pengö.

The anecdote appearing in some of the
popular philatelic literature (Guinness Stamp Book, Dan. Ed.) that these stamps should be
bought in the morning to avoid raised prices later during the day, is
nonsense. The stamps were sold and used for the price mentioned in the
above table, until they were invalidated on 30th June 1946.

The above address card (front and back)
is a good example that the anecdote is untrue. It was purchased and
used on 27th March 1946 (Period 10) and affixed with 40 (forty) stamps of
letter surcharge Cs. 10 - 1, each of 6,000 Pengö, corresponding to a total
price of 240,000 Pengö, for sending a parcel of 10 kg.

The scan to the left
shows a letter to Hungarian Red Cross, sent registered during Period No. 6
(14th January - 1st February 1946).

The terrible inflation is particularly
visible on the address cards, the main part of them concerning food and fruit
sent from the rural areas to the urban areas.

The above address card concerns shipment
of 8 kg bread, sent on 13th April 1946 (Period 12). The parcel was
sent insured for 19 million pengö. During the whole inflation period
the price in Denmark for a loaf of dark bread was 1.17 DKK, and the price
for a loaf of white bread was 1.23 DKK. In total the sender has paid
720,000 Pengö in postage. Further to postage there was a fee for the
address form (Okirati Illetek = Fee for the form) of 4,000 Pengö.
Hungarian address cards from the inflation period were postal entires with a
printed revenue of 10 filler, and supplementary postage to be added.

The scan to the right
shows a letter from Hungary to England, sent on 1st March 1946, the
first day of Period 8. The postage of 80,000 Pengö is
correct. It is a true First Day Letter, gone through the
mail. 15,000 Pengö was the highest value on 1st March 1946.
An 80,000 Pengö stamp was issued on 13th March 1946, still within
Period 8.

The address card below is for shipment on
21st February 1946 (Period 7) of a parcel containing 9,5 kg of various
vegetables and fruits.

The card is correctly franked with 1
stamp of the letter surcharges Cs. 10 - 2. Further are used 14
revenues of each 30 Pengö = 420 Pengö.